Waking Up In Tartarus
by jyvonne13
Summary: The war against Gaea has been over for about a year. Everything is back to normal...supposedly. What happens when Percy finds himself and Annabeth back in Tartarus? Will they make it out alive this time?


**I absolutely love Percy Jackson. I just reach the entire Percy Jackson and the Olympians and Heroes of Olympus Series' straight through (and I've read them multiple times before). I love everything about it and I ship Percy and Annabeth HARD. I've never posted a Percy Jackson fanfiction on here so I figured why not. This one's a little bit dark but I liked the idea so I hope you do too. And hopefully I'll write more Percy Jackson fanfictions that are worth posting in the near future.**

Waking Up In Tartarus

He opened his eyes and immediately knew something was wrong. _Horribly_ wrong.

The last thing he remembered was falling asleep in Cabin 3. He was under warm soft blankets in a room that often had the strong scent of sea salt. As always the only bed that was occupied was the one in the middle of the cabin as he was the only child of Poseidon. But he never slept alone. She had been next to him as always. They broke rules every night on so many different levels but having her there, her blonde hair sprawled across the pillow, soft skin on his, arms wrapped tightly around him keeping him warm. It made him feel at home and at peace.

Now he felt the exact opposite. Cold, tired, in pain. It was as if the very atmosphere was trying to dissolve him molecule by molecule. Everything about this dark eerie place screamed that he shouldn't be alive. He'd only felt that way once before. But how could he be back here...?

"Percy, come one! We've got to go!" Annabeth exclaimed grabbing his hand and yanking him off the ground.

"What?" he said still confused and disoriented.

"The doors! Did you forget? We've got to close the Doors of Death."

His heart nearly sank into his stomach. "What...we already closed the doors."

Her piercing gray eyes bore into his full of concern. "If only. Are you okay?"

He was most certainly not okay. This was supposed to be behind them, all of this. The Doors of Death, the giants, Gaea, brushing deaths fingertips every second of the day. Why was he still here in this horrible place? Had all that they had accomplished been a dream?

"Come half-bloods. The doors are this way!" said Bob.

The Titan was still alive. That was the one thing that made Percy feel relieved. What he had done to the poor Titan in the past nearly destroyed him with guilt. He was determined to make it up to him as soon as they got out of this literal hell.

They followed Bob and the cat Small Bob and came across hundreds of giants and monsters who were guarding the doors. It seemed impossible for them to get past them but with the death mist that the two of them had, the monsters didn't notice a thing. They came across the giant Porphyrion, Percy had defeated not too long ago, among many other giants and Titans who were preparing to leave Tartarus through the Doors of Death elevator and continue to wreak havoc on the world under Gaea's command.

Percy felt a sense of deja vu. They had done this before. They had closed the doors. They made it out of Tartarus. They had stopped Gaea from rising. He knew they had, he could picture it clearly (not that he really wanted to but after all that it was hard not to picture it every now and then). Why then were they back in Tartarus facing the monsters again with the doors still open.

"Annabeth, something doesn't seem right," Percy said to her.

"What do you mean?"

"Something just seems off. Are you sure we haven't…"

That's when everything went wrong. The death mist wore off, Porphyrion noticed them. The fight broke out. There was no way Percy and Annabeth could fight off all of them even with Bob there.

The events played through Percy's mind just as they had happened before, or at least thought they had happened. He wasn't sure what was real and what was fake anymore. But if things were going to play out like they had before he knew what would happen next was not going to be good.

Porphyrion was about to attack when suddenly he dissolved and a feeling so horrible and hopeless washed over Percy that it could only mean one thing and it made the dread wash over him like a giant wave.

Standing in front of them, taller than any of the giants, wearing armor that seemed to have the damned souls of the Underworld pleading for mercy, was Tartarus himself.

 _You thought you could make it out of Tartarus alive, demigods? You were sadly mistaken._

His voice seemed to come from every direction and echo off of everything around them. Percy could barely look at Tartarus. His sword clattered to the ground at his feet. Just being in his presence was enough to make him feel as though all was lost.

 _Gaea will rise. You will be the sacrifice to her. The blood of Olympus will give rise to a new era and my children the giants will destroy all of you demigods and gods slowly and painfully._

Just before Tartarus could really strike, there was a loud cry and then Tartarus was tackled by a giant on a drakon.

"Damesen!" Annabeth exclaimed happily. The giant, cast off and cursed for eternity had found a way to break his curse and come to the rescue after all just as Annabeth had hoped.

It gave Percy a minute to come back to his sense. He picked up his sword and grabbed Annabeth's hand. "We've got to get out of here!"

Annabeth looked back at Bob who was fighting the monsters. "Bob…!"

"Go demigods! I'll hold them off for as long as I can."

"But…"

"You have to go! You're the only hope the world has left!"

The two of them ran off towards the doors while everyone else was distracted. Percy knew this part. He knew exactly what would happen next. They would have to break the chains and get in the elevator. The Doors of Death would take them back to the surface. They would return to the Argo II and be on their way with their friends.

But Tartarus stepped in their way. This wasn't what Percy remembered.

 _You will not make it would of here alive._

He raised his sword.

 _My rejected son chose the wrong side, and he paid the ultimate price._

"Damesen!" Percy exclaimed looking around desperately.

The giant or his drakon were nowhere in sight. He had given his life and everything he could have had to help them and Tartarus had destroyed him.

That made Percy mad. He didn't care anymore that Tartarus was the father of all monsters. No one hurt his friends and got away with it.

He raised Riptide. "You're going to pay for that Tartarus!" He didn't know how much damage he could do but he was damn sure going to try.

 _You think you can stop me? I'll show you!_

Tartarus swung his own sword as Percy charged. It clattered against Riptide and sent Percy flying backwards. He hit something so hard the impact felt like it broke all of his bones and knocked his teeth out.

He blacked out for a quick moment and came back when he heard Annabeth's voice.

"Percy!" She was running towards him. But what was behind her nearly sent him into a full blown panic attack.

"Annabeth, look out…!" He tried to run towards her but it was too late.

Tartarus moved again with his huge imperial gold sword and shoved it straight through Annabeth's back so that she was completely skewered. Her blood curdling scream echoed throughout the expanse of Tartarus and his scream rang out just as loud as watching her be pierced straight through nearly caused him physical pain.

Bright crimson blood covered the sword and dripped one drop at a time to the ground. Her face was pale and ashen. Her gray eyes were open and lifeless. She didn't move.

Percy dropped his sword and fell to his knees unable to stabilize himself at the sight. After all they had been through together, they were this close to getting out of Tartarus alive. And this was how her life ended.

His head was spinning, everything around him seemed to be swimming around him like the words on the page of a book. Tears sprang from him eyes, he could hardly breathe, he was nearly hyperventilating.

 _What a shame_.

Tartarus dropped Annabeth's lifeless body to the ground in front of Percy. He crawled two feet over to her. Her body was contorted in an odd way. Her clothes were soaked with blood. He put his fingers on her cheek which was cold.

In every fight, he always tried to keep Annabeth safe. She would say she didn't need protection, she could take care of herself. But his first instinct was to always take care of her. This time he hadn't done enough and this was the price she paid.

 _Join your girlfriend demigod. This will be your last moment._

Tartarus sent his sword crashing down and Percy prepared to be sliced in half.

Just as quickly he sat up breathing heavily and covered in sweat.

It was dark. The only light was the moonlight that shone through the windows. Tartarus, the monsters, the Doors of Death, and the god himself were somehow gone. It took him a moment to begin to wonder if it had all been a dream.

Suddenly he began to look around frantically. Where was Annabeth?! The image of her skewered by Tartarus' sword, covered in blood, and her gray eyes glazed over and looking at him lifelessly replayed over and over in his mind. The war with Gaea was over and he was Tartarus but had Annabeth really made it out with him?

"Are you okay?" she said with a yawn.

He looked down and saw her rubbing her eyes and yawning.

He breathed a sigh of relief. Then he threw his head back on his pillow. He suddenly felt very tired. It was as if he'd trekked through Tartarus fighting monster after monster all over again and he was exhausted.

"Yeah just...a really bad nightmare."

She sat up on her elbows and looked down at him. "Do you want to talk about it?"

He observed the way her wavy blonde hair, messy from a night of rolling around the bed, hung down across her shoulders. She wore a blue camisole tank top and one of the straps hung off her shoulder slightly. Her skin was slightly tanned as always as her pink lips formed a concerned frown.

The image of her being covered in blood and her eyes being so lifeless played through his mind again. It made his eyes well up and his bit his lips to keep from losing it.

"Tartarus."

He only had to say that one word and she understood.

"I still have nightmares about it too," she said softly. "I don't think I'll ever get over it."

"This time it was different," he said. "It was when we were at the Door of Death all over again, exactly how it was. And then he showed up. But then it was different. We tried to fight him and he...you...you died." He could barely say that last word. "Annabeth, I...I don't know what I would have done...I can't live without you…" All of the emotions that had built up were starting to come out and as much as he tried to stop them he couldn't.

She reached over and hugged him as tightly as she could. She kissed him and ran her fingers up and down his back in a comforting way. His face was pressed against her chest and the steady sound of her heartbeat started it calm him down. It was like it was bringing stability back to his mind.

"I've had dreams like that too," she said. "It's horrible. I don't know what I would ever do if I lost you Percy. There were so many times where I could have...where you could have…"

He could hear her starting to get choked up too. He removed his face from her chest and kissed her. Now it was his turn to comfort her. "But we didn't." He put his forehead on hers and held her close to him. "And I'm never letting anything happen to you."


End file.
